Proverbs 31 Woman, Biblical Womanhood, and Women in Ministry | Part 2

Last time, I mentioned I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Proverbs 31. There was an entire season based on being a P31 Woman. Remember that? I’m pretty sure I even wrote about how I’d rather be a P31 Woman than a Victoria’s Secret Angel or something like that.

I tried so hard to be the P31 woman. I failed even harder.

It wasn’t until studying this beautiful chapter that I even recognized this chapter was written by a mom. If we read it in context, she is giving advice to her son. So here is a mother giving life lessons to her son just as Solomon had given life-lessons to his sons in most of the entire book of Proverbs.

Verses 10-31 are both poetic and a mom’s wishes for her son. These verses are written as an acrostic, which means each line is written beginning with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and they are each used in these 22 verses.

Aside from that, this is a mom telling her son about the woman she hopes he can find to marry. It’s like a prayer she’s praying over her son just as we pray for ours.

Have you ever prayed for the future spouse of your child? Think about the things you pray. Would you consider that to be a blueprint of a good spouse? Would you consider the person you wish for your child to marry to be the one and only standard that all people must live by? Do you live by that standard?

Likely, you have some things in there that are personal to you. Maybe you pray for your daughter to marry a pastor. Does that mean every man should be a pastor? Maybe you pray for your son to marry someone who is tall because he’s taller than average. Does that mean every woman should be tall? There likely are things you see missing from yourself that you hope your child can find their future spouse to have. Don’t we always want better for our children?

I know this sounds a little silly and trivial, but we have to view these verses in a similar light understanding this scripture is based on a mom’s desires for the future spouse of her son.

Break Free from the P31 Mold

These verses were never meant to be a standard or blueprint that every woman has to meet in order to be considered virtuous, excellent, or a wife of noble character. God gave us individuality. He did not create women (or men) to fit a cookie-cutter mold.

You aren’t a cookie, friend. And you aren’t a piece of candy, so get yourself unstuck from that mold you’ve been trying to fit in your whole life.

A while back, I wrote about how the enemy tries to twist and pervert every good thing God has created. He continues to do it because it still works today.

Proverbs 31 is such a beautiful description of what a mom wants for her son, but the enemy has infiltrated the Church by perverting the actual intention.

Comparison is the thief of joy.
-Theodore Roosevelt

The enemy loves to pit women against each other, and all it takes is a little comparison game. Compare yourself to other women, and there is never a winner. When you compare, you’re putting someone else down, or you’re puffing yourself up. Either way, there is no winner.

When you compare yourself to the woman described in this chapter, you’re only going to feel like you can’t measure up. It starts eating away at your identity, your character, your purpose, and it can make you question if you really have the strong relationship with God you thought you did. That last one is what I experienced much of my adult life.

I want to remind you that your identity is found in God alone. It will never be found in another mother’s description of the wife she hopes for her son to find. Let God speak on who you should be in order to be an excellent wife for your husband and mother to your children.

It looks like we will continue this topic one more time . . .